Mantle of the Gods

Camp was set up.

Ether had labeled everyone’s tents so they knew where they were staying, not that we had any gear to store in them. Mitchel had his tent at the Northwest corner, while Rix, Jovena, Trent, and Gesai each had theirs clockwise in the center of the enclosure. Fray had a tent beside mine while Oz and Ren were above it. Justia and Aelin had taken the southeast corner and Jenne was right next to them.

Gesai took the second group down, which left the six of us at camp to fend for ourselves. I found Rix in her tent, which surprised me.

“Hey.” I peeked into the open flap.

Rix looked up and nodded.

I sat down in front of the tent, “I thought you’d be out exploring the town.”

“Wasn’t much to see.” She nodded behind me, “Supposedly everything starts happening once the mappers get back.” The redhead shrugged, “Otherwise, there's not much going on.”

“Is there a blacksmith?” Fray’s voice made me jump as the brunette appeared behind me.

“Yeah.” Rix looked at the other woman, “You need something fixed?”

I scooted so that Fray could sit in the opening as well. She pulled the sword we’d found out of her CB. “Gesai said that a Blacksmith might be able to move the properties of this to my katana.”

Rix held out her hand and the homely woman passed it over. ”It’s a decent weapon. The extra Speed is nice, but curse is very niche.” She handed the sword back over and started to get up, “I can take you.”

We started walking through the camp. Mitchel and Jovena were talking by the lone opening and Ren propped against the fence opposite them.

“Where’re you going?” Ren pushed herself off the fence.

“Rix is taking us to the Blacksmith.” Fray smiled, “To see about the sword.”

“Are there any other shops?” Ren looked at Rix.

“A supplies store, but the guy that runs it is mapping in the thirties, so it won’t be open until tomorrow, maybe. There’s a bar, but…” The redhead looked at her CB, “It’ll be another hour before the mapping crews get in, so they’re probably not serving any food right now.”

“Where is the other team staying?” Jovena made the question sound casual.

“Second building east of here.” Rix raised an eyebrow, “We’re supposed to stay away from them.”

“We’re not supposed to get in their way.” The white-haired woman corrected, “I think I’m going to go see what they’re doing.”

Rix sighed as the other woman started walking away.

“I can go make sure she stays out of trouble.” Mitchel motioned in her direction.

Everyone was looking at me, “Go ahead if you want to, or you could come with us.” I shrugged, “Or you could stay here or you could wander around on your own. All we were told to do was not get in other people’s way.”

He nodded and started down the road after Jovena.

“How worried should I be?” I looked at Rix.

“About Vena?” The redhead shook her head, “She’s hoping Celia will rescue her from Warder. I’d say she’s going to be on her best behavior. Mitchel..?” Rix shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Right…” I thought about going after them for a moment, but decided that they both probably knew the world of the Nobility way better than any of us except Ren. Which meant it was probably in my best interest to steer clear of them. Especially since Ades Roge, Savyn Triscan, and Gileon Alard were in that group. Ades and Savyn were both from Zeb and while I didn’t know either of them, we had met briefly during the Mantle Trial. They’d made it very clear what they thought about Mundane Adventurers. Gileon was Farsch Alard’s grandson and I already knew what the Patriarch thought about Justia and Gesai. Considering Gileon’s disrespect during the selection, I doubted the grandson’s views were any different.

“They’ll probably be fine.” I looked at Ren, “You coming too?”

The blonde shrugged, “Sure.”

I turned to Rix, “Lead on.”